Grateful Dead 1980 Rick Griffin Skull & Crossbones Referee T-Shirt

Rick Griffin's visual language depended on visual paradox: taking symbols of danger (skulls, crossed bones) and transforming them into marks of spiritual transcendence. This shirt, with its referee imagery mixed with iconic Dead symbols, suggests the Dead as mediators, as guides through the liminal space where mortality meets eternal music.

The "heart roses" motif, visible in some of Griffin's 1980 designs, represents his late-period work, when he had fully synthesized a visual vocabulary capable of holding contradictions: death and love, danger and intimacy, the macabre and the profound.

Griffin's design work for the Dead spans multiple decades. His influence on the visual culture of Dead fandom cannot be overstated. This piece represents him working at full creative power in 1980.

• Style: Heavy-duty referee-style black shirt with white V-neck collar and white rings around the sleeves
• Size: Adult Small (34-36)
• Condition: New, never worn or washed. Preserved as a collectible since 1980.
• Artist: Rick Griffin